It is well known to provide a gaming device that accepts money from a player, holds the money while the player plays the gaming device and enables the player to retrieve the player's money at any time. Known gaming devices thus do not require the player to input a wagerable amount of money in the gaming device each time the player wishes to play a game. When the player wins while playing known gaming devices, the gaming devices do not require the player to immediately take the winnings if the player desires to continue play. Known gaming devices therefore provide a mechanism by which the player can input and maintain a pool of money (i.e., credits) in the gaming device to play many games of the gaming device. The gaming machine can also accumulate and store the player's winnings. When the player wishes to stop playing, known gaming devices preferably provide a mechanism by which the player can retrieve the money that remains in the pool.
It is also known that slot machines may accept wagers in different forms such as coins, tokens, paper currency and tickets. Gaming devices that utilize credit cards and debit cards to transfer funds to a slot machine have also been proposed. Such known systems generally enable the player to receive funds using a standard credit, debit or other card at the gaming device and immediately use the funds to play the game. That is, the electronic funds are transferred directly to the game rather than to the player.
One problem facing electronic funds transfer systems is their security. Many regulatory agencies will not approve electronic funds transfers primarily because the proposed systems do not confirm a transfer. That is, there is no lasting evidence that a transfer has occurred. A system needs to provide such evidence, so that electronic funds transfers can occur in a more secure fashion.
Further, a casino having a remote fund transfer system would have dual revenue streams from a single machine, i.e., the amount inputted at the machine plus intermittent, e.g., daily, payments by the credit issuers. The casino would therefore require that the game account for how much credit it issued to players over the same period. Otherwise, the casino would have no way of determining the profitability of a particular machine. Each machine would therefore be required to have the capability to store and transfer a record of the amount of each cashless crediting of the machine. The casino would most likely want to know the date and time of each transaction, as well as other player specific information.
Still further, in known systems, because the transfer of money to game play is seamless, the gaming device is required to have the ability to send and receive authorization information, realize an amount of money that has been transferred, convert the money amount into a game credit amount, add or subtract an amount of credits that the player thereafter wins or loses and issue an appropriate cash out when the player desires. Accordingly, the game's processor handles the normal game accounting in combination with the electronic funds transfer accounting.
It is also known to provide ticket systems for gaming machines, wherein the gaming machines issue and accept tickets in lieu of money. Such systems provide a workable cashless system on a local or casino level. The casino operator redeems an amount of money imprinted on the ticket through visual inspection or via a ticket validation system. Ticketing systems are advantageous because they reduce the amount of cash transactions and the need for the player to transport and hold large amounts of cash or coins. Consequently, ticketing systems have become common in certain gaming jurisdictions, such as is Oregon, Minnesota, Mississippi and Nevada. Various manufacturers produce these types of ticketing systems including the assignee of the present application. These systems require each machine to have a ticket printer.
The role of ticketing machines has recently been expanded to enable a player to redeem the ticket at a gaming device. As before, the ticketing system issues a cash out ticket in response to a player's cash out request. In the expanded role, the cash out ticket includes information that enables the player to present the ticket to a cashier, as before, or to re-insert the ticket into a gaming device configured to accept ticket transactions.
In this expanded role, the ticket accepting gaming devices must now contain a ticket reader as well as the ticket printer. In the expanded system, the cash out ticket typically contains a barcode, a written ticket amount, the time and date of printing, a numerical representation of the barcode and other identification and validation information. To redeem the ticket for its value, the player either presents the ticket to the operator, who validates the ticket and pays the player an amount of money, or the player inserts the ticket into a ticket-ready gaming device, whereby the gaming device provides the player with a number of credits equal to the amount represented by or encoded on the ticket.
The controllers of the ticket-ready gaming devices are adapted to coordinate with the ticket validation system. For example, when a cash out ticket is inserted into a ticket reader equipped in a gaming device, the ticket reader forwards information, which can be stored on a barcode, to the game's controller. The game controller recognizes this information as ticket information and forwards the ticket information to a ticket validation system outside the gaming device. The ticket validation system analyzes the ticket information, and if the ticket is valid, the ticket validation system provides the game controller with an authorization to credit the gaming machine with the amount represented by or encoded on the ticket.
Alternatively, if the ticket validation system detects that the ticket is not valid, the ticket validation system instructs the game controller to reject the ticket. The ticket validation system may also log the failed attempt in a statistical database that will record the information for future reference. Manufacturers employing this method of ticket operation include International Game Technology (Reno, Nev.), Bally Systems (Sparks, Nev.), Casino Data Systems (Las Vegas, Nev.) as well as others.
Ticketing benefits each player, not just those wishing to access remote funds from the game. Gaming establishments have also become familiar with the ticketing systems and their proven performance. Ticketing systems are therefore likely to proliferate within the gaming industry. Accordingly, a need exists to provide an electronic funds transfer system that utilizes the ticketing system's hardware and software as much as possible to avoid duplication of such hardware and software in accounting for the transfer of the electronic funds.
A need also exists to make a secure electronic funds transfer system. A further need exists to provide evidence of the electronic transaction. A still further need exists to provide an electronic funds transfer system designed to place the funds in the player's hands rather than directly in the credit meter of the gaming device.